Boycott...Target?

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

You're supposed to boycott Wal-Mart because they keep their employees hours just barely below what they need to get benefits.

If we let THAT be cause for boycott, none of us would be going to Disneyland any more.

Oh, wait...

[innerSpaceman]

Lopsided as it may be, as gays - money's all we've got. We don't have the numbers to wield any political clout. But by and large, we don't have kids - and everyone seems to love our disposable income.

I try to be balanced in many things, and it's true there's no direct line from a contribution to any particular issue a candidate supports.


But gay rights is a make or break issue with me. I appreciate knowing who supports my right with deeds, or with hollow words, or not at all. I can conduct my personal spending accordingly.

I don't know if I'll "boycott" Target, but I'll think before I buy anything there for a while.

[Ghoulish Delight]

While I understand that the reaction to this comes from the fact that Target has in the past actively defined itself as supportive of the gay community, and thus this feels two-faced, I have to agree that the fact that it was a donation to a PAC (which has zero stance one way or the other on gay marriage) that happens to give money to this candidate, rather than a direct donation to the candidate, is an important detail.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'm disappointed. I can see it, but yeah. I expected better. I'll feel better if they donate a similar amount to a gay-rights organization or something. Show us you mean it, yes?

I was going to say KMart sort of fills the same niche, but KMart lays off employees as they near retirement. Or at least they used to. So they're dirty, too.

::sigh:: I may avoid them for a short time. I need to remember to write a letter to Target Corporate. As has been noted, Target overall seems to do quite well as far as business practices and treating their employees well, which I'd like to support.

It's exhausting trying to be a responsible consumer.

[BarTopDancer]

I'm going to clarify what I said in a new post instead of editing.

When it comes to voting I won't vote for someone who is opposed to gay rights.

When it comes to boycotting corporations that support candidates whose views I don't agree... well I'd never shop anywhere since most of them do it. Corporations that give money to conservative candidates are most likely also supporting candidates who want to take away my right to choose.

[€uroMeinke]

Companies donate to buy influence. Many will support opposing sides to ensure they have a foot in the door of whoever wins. I'd judge a company based on it's own practices instead of who indirectly benefits from the company

[Strangler Lewis]

Slightly off topic, but I actually had a "What am I doing here moment?" the other day at Top Dog on Berkeley northside. I don't know if they've changed ownership, but the last time I was at the southside Top Dog a year or two ago, the walls were papered with liberal clippings. At the northside Top Dog the other day, everything was extreme libertarianism, anti-tax, belligerently pro-gun, etc. Racks full of helpful literature.

I will probably still go there to buy a hot dog (even though they no longer cost .80 like they did in 1980.) I would feel like an asshole boycotting a place because the content of its in your face "conversation" had changed to one of which I disapproved. They could probably cross a line with it, but, in this case, they hadn't.

Still, I think most public interaction works better when people and businesses keep their opinions to themselves. During this year's Little League season, there'd be tea party parents who'd come and spend half the game complaining about Obama. What are you, gay? (I imagined saying to them.) Don't you understand the common ground of sports? Shut the f*ck up and watch the game.

[Alex]

The Target PAC had already directly contributed to the campaigns of probably a couple dozen candidates for the Senate and House who are not supporters of same sex marriage. I see the PR value of righteous outrage, but I don't see actual underlying outrage.

But it will be nearly impossible to find a politically active corporation who has not provided money to a candidate opposed to same sex marriage. Looking at Evan Bayh, a Democrat opposed to gay marriage, if we're boycotting for supporting him then these are just some of the companies we need to avoid:

Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Members of the Plumbers/Pipefitters Union
Honeywell
BAE Systems
Mastercard
Intel
Pfizer
Ernst & Young
AT&T (I hope everybody's prepared to give up their iPhones or maybe just abandon Apple since they support AT&T who supports Bayh)
Cisco
General Electric (should we shun the member here who works for them or is that taking it too far)?
Qwest Communications
Eli Lilly (Pfizer and Eli Lilly? I hope nobody gets sick while boycotting)
Morgan Stanley
Gap Inc.

How about a moderate Republican like Olympia Snow? She's fine with civil unions but opposed same sex marriage. So we'll need to boycott

Verizon
Raytheon
Members of the American Physical Therapy Association
Union Pacific (do we just have to refuse to ship stuff by their trains or refuse to buy stuff shipped on their trains?)
Comcast
Members of the National Association of Realtors
AT&T
Bank of America
Members of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (now that's going to hit a lot of people where they live)
National Association of Broadcasters (uh oh, I suppose it doesn't count as a boycott if you just watch on Hulu)
Members of the American Association of Anesthesiologists (you can perform surgery doctor, but I hope you don't mind if I watch and comment).
Aetna
FedEx
Members of the American Bankers Association (on to credit unions, I guess).
Members of the Credit Union National Association (damn, can't boycott big banks by moving to credit unions).
Members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Members of the Directors Guild of America (the random movie thoughts thread will go indie only)
Home Depot
Members of the American Dental Association (for some of us, this will be quite the relief)
Microsoft
Metlife
Members of the American Medical Association
Time Warner

[CoasterMatt]

Walmart's list of bad corporate practices goes far further than just that.

[flippyshark]

While I'm sure there are no completely enlightened and delightfully progressive corporate entities, Target has developed an image of being more tolerant and GBLT supportive. I can see value in choosing to pressure them because they have already demonstrated potential to be better, and in theory, they could more easily set an example for other companies to follow. In theory, they are closer to the target (pun unavoidable) so their failure is more of a shame. On the other hand, they could take steps to correct this more easily, so short term, it may be worth buying at other, even evil- er places in order to pressure Target to take the high road. Tenable?